Penn State's Technology Learning Assistants (TLAs) are student technology
tutors who work one-on-one with instructors to help them obtain the
skills necessary to create blogs, podcasts, work with digital media,
use Breeze, and ANGEL. Over the fall 07 and spring 08 semesters the TLA
program received 98 requests for consultations from instructors
resulting in 160 total consultations. Over the last year we added 6 new
TLAs to the program. For the fall 08 semester we added an additional
6 new TLAs and have a working staff of 10. We broadened the reach of
the TLA program to recruit student tutors from all disciplines. As a
result we added TLAs from the college of agriculture, liberal arts,
and HDFS in addition to our student's from INSYS and IST.
I projected around 60 unique requests from instructors for the fall semester, six per TLA. The majority of our consultations are about ANGEL and I did not expect this to change. However, I did expect to see an increase in the number of requests for other ETS services in particular blogs, podcasting, and Adobe Connect. I based my projection on two factors: the increase of requests concerning these services last semester and the increase in the visibility of these services. I also noticed that several of our requests for consultations regarding ANGEL morphed into additional consultations about these services, particularly blogs. Our marketing plan was sound based on the results from last year. We sent out two faculty recruitment notices (9/8 and 10/13). The notices were sent out via the UP edition of Faculty/Staff Newswire, TechNews, TLT News and the ANGEL Community Hub. Additionally, TLA services were mentioned during ITS training events.
We received 40 requests for consultations from faculty this fall, two-thirds of what was projected. I believe this was the case because we did not upgrade ANGEL as we normally due at the end of the spring semester. These requests resulted in 66 consultation sessions with faculty, a total of 77.5 hours. Consultations on ANGEL were the most popular request breaking down as follows:
We also consulted on the following topics:
For the spring semester I added four new TLAs (two from Security and Risk Analysis, one from Health and Human Development, and one from IST). We will pair these with four returning TLAs (two from IST, one from HHD, and one from Liberal Arts). Alex Kozak, the lead TLA will be graduating this spring and Gavin Grissamore will replace him. The lead TLA is responsible for assigning faculty requests to the TLAs, handling any priority requests, and keeping me up to date with status reports. Training for the new TLAs will take place over the first month of the semester. They will be trained on consulting skills, ANGEL, Adobe Connect, blogs, podcasting, and streaming media. Consultation requests traditionally drop by a third from fall to spring and I am projecting between 25 and 30 unique requests this spring. We will market the TLA program to faculty and the beginning of the semester and again at the midpoint. The returning TLAs will handle faculty requests until the new TLAs are trained.The TLAs may also be asked to support the symposium by providing roving assistance to attendees as well as manning a technical support desk.
I projected around 60 unique requests from instructors for the fall semester, six per TLA. The majority of our consultations are about ANGEL and I did not expect this to change. However, I did expect to see an increase in the number of requests for other ETS services in particular blogs, podcasting, and Adobe Connect. I based my projection on two factors: the increase of requests concerning these services last semester and the increase in the visibility of these services. I also noticed that several of our requests for consultations regarding ANGEL morphed into additional consultations about these services, particularly blogs. Our marketing plan was sound based on the results from last year. We sent out two faculty recruitment notices (9/8 and 10/13). The notices were sent out via the UP edition of Faculty/Staff Newswire, TechNews, TLT News and the ANGEL Community Hub. Additionally, TLA services were mentioned during ITS training events.
We received 40 requests for consultations from faculty this fall, two-thirds of what was projected. I believe this was the case because we did not upgrade ANGEL as we normally due at the end of the spring semester. These requests resulted in 66 consultation sessions with faculty, a total of 77.5 hours. Consultations on ANGEL were the most popular request breaking down as follows:
- ANGEL Overview - 9 requests
- Gradebook - 9 requests
- Copy/Import course content - 2 requests
- Quizzes, drop boxes, HTML editor, student views, and groups - 1 request each
We also consulted on the following topics:
- Building webpages - 5 requests
- Powerpoint - 3 requests
- Blogs - 2 requests
- Podcasting, web 2.0 overview, google docs, Flickr, Excel, Gmail, Webmail, listserv, scanning documents, MS Office, setting up an office network, and upgrading a computer - 1 request each.
For the spring semester I added four new TLAs (two from Security and Risk Analysis, one from Health and Human Development, and one from IST). We will pair these with four returning TLAs (two from IST, one from HHD, and one from Liberal Arts). Alex Kozak, the lead TLA will be graduating this spring and Gavin Grissamore will replace him. The lead TLA is responsible for assigning faculty requests to the TLAs, handling any priority requests, and keeping me up to date with status reports. Training for the new TLAs will take place over the first month of the semester. They will be trained on consulting skills, ANGEL, Adobe Connect, blogs, podcasting, and streaming media. Consultation requests traditionally drop by a third from fall to spring and I am projecting between 25 and 30 unique requests this spring. We will market the TLA program to faculty and the beginning of the semester and again at the midpoint. The returning TLAs will handle faculty requests until the new TLAs are trained.The TLAs may also be asked to support the symposium by providing roving assistance to attendees as well as manning a technical support desk.
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